


He's The Giggle At His Own Funeral

by orphan_account



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: ?? - Freeform, Alcohol, I'll add more tags as this goes on, Loan Sharks, M/M, Magic, Self-Mutilation, Tricks, iceburg lounge, im sorry he had a jeff the killer moment, jack just needed love, joker fucks his face up, now he a crazy, some of the origin stories are different!!!, sorry if they're out of character, sort of a joker backstory
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-04-24
Packaged: 2018-10-08 23:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10398687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Bruce Wayne only had a short encounter with Jack Napier before he became someone else. After a little accident, Batman meets his worst enemy, an unstoppable force with no regard for human life. He's shocked to learn that this mess used to be a cute little street performer.||mainly batjokes but other ships may be added||





	1. The Birth Of A Clown

Times like this, Bruce enjoyed taking walks around Gotham before he has to get on with his day life as Bruce Wayne.. Then when the night came, he could don the cowl and become the Batman. In the daytime, he could take the time to step back and take in every element of Gotham. Such as the people on the streets, the little shops, the sights, everything. When there wasn’t any crime going on around town, the city was a nice place.

This morning in particular, his attention drifted to a street performing clown.

Bruce found himself drawn in by the colorful character the moment he turned corner and spotted him. The man was a smaller than Bruce, pretty lean as well. His hair was stained green but you could make out black locks in the green mess. His bangs hung by his ears but the hair that could be gathered were tied back into a small ponytail. It was definite he was a clown, not only by his colorful hair but the makeup and clothes were a dead give away. He was pale skinned man with thick white face paint smeared over his face in a messy fashion, around his eyes were a darker grey color, and his lips were covered with smudgy red lipstick. His clothes were nothing more than a simple baggy t-shirt, pants, and large boots but the clothes were covered in colorful loud patterns.

He stood at the corner, a black hat at his feet, coins and dollar bills laying in the hat. A few people were watching as the man cracked a joke and reached behind a woman's ear, pulling out a coin seemingly out of nowhere. A few people let out weak laughs as he called out another joke, laughing loudly as a some of the viewers clapped. The women smiled faintly, tapping her husband to leave the man a dollar before they started to walk away.

Now Bruce would have just waved it off as a man trying to make a living until he saw the women as she passed by. “ _ Her earring.. _ ” He thought to himself for a moment, noticing she was missing one of her jeweled earrings. That perked his interest in this street clown.

Bruce approached to the other, crossing his arms as he watched the green haired man crack a few more jokes to passersby before the clown spotted Bruce staring. “Hey there rich boy, don’t you know it’s rude to stare.” There was a small smirk on his face, a certain cockyness to his tone of voice.

The Wayne raised a brow, “You seem to like the attention.” He pointed out, taking a step closer to the clown.

That was true, he did enjoy the attention. Why else does someone go into show business? “You’re not wrong.” he retorted, kneeling down to open a dark purple backpack. “Since you want to be front and center, care to let me practice some card tricks on you?” he asked, holding up a deck of simple playing cards,

“Go ahead,” Bruce replied simply as the man cracked open the cards, scanning through the deck. “Although, I’m afraid you might be stumped when it comes to surprising me.” he tried to keep it light, confident, much like the playboy Bruce Wayne would.

The other man laughed at his comment and shook his head. “I often surprise people.” He replied, shuffling the cards together. “Now come on, no one likes a sour audience member, pick a card. Any card!”

The way the other man returned their banter, leaving them feeding off each other.. It was exhilarating. No one dared to match wits with Bruce Wayne, instead they groveled at his feet, yet this street clown didn’t hold back. “I’m afraid I was told not to take gifts from strangers.” The dark haired man smirked as he reached out for a card. “How about you tell me a name before we continue? At least a stage now, how else will recommend you to others?” His tone was teasing, light.

“Jack.” The green haired man replied simply as Bruce chose a card. “If you want more, I’m afraid you’ll have to ask for an encour.” Jack’s laugh was almost infectious the more the playboy was around it.

The card was nothing more than the king of diamonds but he was interested to see how this would play out. He’s seen card tricks before but Jack had a certain charm to him when he was the one holding the deck. As he glanced at his card, Bruce smiled faintly. “Alright, I might have to take you up on that offer sometime.” He replied, watching Jack fumble around to glance through his cards. “Having troubles?” He teased.

Jack continued humming to himself as he waved his hand in thought. “Hush, you’re halting my creative flow” The green haired man let a giggle escape his lips as he nudged the playboy. As if it was part of the act, the wind started to pick up and Bruce’s card slipped out of his hands. Before he could snatch it out of the air, it was gone.

“Awh, look at what you’ve done! Now I have in incomplete deck!” Jack shook his head, clapping his hands together. “Lucky for you Mr Wayne, I have an ace up my sleeve!” He joked, reached towards the sleeve of Bruce’s jacket to pull a card seemingly out of nowhere. “Now, I won’t charge you for the card just this time! Buut, tips are appreciated. I have a mouth to feed you know.”

Bruce let out a chuckle as he opened his wallet and pulled a crisp hundred out of it, he’ll admit it, that was pretty impressive and slightly charming. “Alright, alright, you’ve won me over this time. Although next time, I’d love to see you a little longer.” He teased, pressing the bill into the other’s hand. “Will we be in touch Mr Jack?”

For a few moments, Jack was left in awe, staring at Mr Wayne with his face warming up underneath the makeup. He was left speechless as Bruce handed him the hat of tips. “Now, how about you return my watch the next time we meet up? Keep it as a souvenir.” Bruce whispered lowly, his crisp blue eyes meeting Jack’s own dark eyes.

He was shocked, how did this man find out? He’s been stealing all day!

“How did you-”

“You’re nimble but still sloppy, you must have been stealing for a while huh?” Bruce glanced at the shocked clown. “Just this one time, you’ll be getting a free pass but you should watch out.” He turned heel, sending a smirk at the clown. “Or I’ll next date might be interrupted by a bat.” With that, he continued walking with a smile.

 

For a while, it felt unreal. Jack Napier just tried to steal Bruce Wayne’s watch and here he was with the watch in one hand and a hundred in the other. Yet there was still talk of another encounter with Bruce, everything was perfect. How the hell did he pull that off? 

His gaze drifted to the silver watch, carefully rubbing his thumb over the engraving. It was a small quote, he assumed it was a gift. Cheesy quote but.. Jack liked it. Carefully, he clipped it around his wrist, just as a little reminder of his encounter with Bruce today. “Yeah, we’ll just have to see about that second date.”

If only he knew what kind of life Jack Napier lived..

He remained on the corner for a while, gathering tips and whatever rings, necklaces, earrings, and other trinkets he could gather without being noticed. As much as he loved the stage front and center, it wasn’t hard to forget about a guy like Jack. Sure, he stuck out like a sore thumb in the daytime but at night, he tried to blend in as much as he could with the simple thieves and pickpockets of the night.

It was noon before he was done, anxiety settling in his stomach as he shoved everything into his bag. Tonight was the night. He’s practiced it over and over in the mirror, he was going to get out of this mess. Jack wanted nothing more than a normal life. He’d cut his ties with Cobblepot once and for all.

A almost two years ago, Jack found himself getting into serious debt. With his fiance admitting she was pregant, him having no job, and little money to support a family, he didn’t have anywhere else to turn but to ask Cobblepot for a little financial aid. Oswald made it simple, he’d loan him the cash now then Jack could repay him later. With not much money coming in, Oswald was accepting little payments with interest.. That left Jack on the streets, pickpocketing and performing during the day and trying whatever he can to make cash.

Things took a turn for the worse a little over a year ago.

The love of his life was killed, along with their unborn child. It was an accident but a part of Jack always wondered if Cobblepot had been pulling the strings to her death. The man wasn’t above threatening his employees with broken limbs or worse, but Jack knew he was one of the more cleaner, direct criminals. He had lackeys do the hard work while he laid around on his rich ass, maintaining his club.

The iceberg lounge, it was a surprisingly classy joint Cobblepot has maintained for a while now. He’s done all of his business there currently, surprisingly the police are unaware of the criminal intentions behind the nightclub. Jack couldn’t expect the Gotham PD to notice though, they were about as blind as a bat-how ironic that a bat is the one scooping up all the police’s work these days..

Lately, the Batman has flooded Jack’s brain. He found the man so interesting! He dressed up as a bat and stopped crime! What a crazy concept.. Yet, Jack found himself drifting off and wondering about the Bat, wondered what he was like in real life even. Maybe one of these days, he could come face to face with the man dressed as a Bat.

The topic overall left Jack baffled.. But it was simply a thought, nothing more. The Batman only fought criminals, and Jack was just stealing trinkets from rich people. What would make him worth the Batman’s time?

 

He sighed, holding his bag close as he neared the iceberg lounge. More anxiety pooled inside him as he faced the door. Jack hadn’t taken the time to clean up his face, leaving him open to people’s judging glares throughout the walk. The green haired man couldn’t blame them, he stuck out like a sore thumb in public. Even without the makeup, the green stained locks were easy to spot in a crowd. 

Either way, he didn’t have the time to wash off the smudged cosmetics before he pushed open the door to the nightclub. Instantly, he was hit with the dim lights and sounds of people eating. He picked up the faint scent of fish and alcohol throughout the place, a scent that could easily describe Oswald Cobblepot. The place was starting to thin out, Oswald didn’t keep it open too late on a weekdays, those were work days for Cobblepot. He most likely had work if he was closing this early, Jack had better be quick, in case the man was in a lousy mood as well.

He pulled his bag close subconsciously as the bouncer let Jack past the doorway and he entered the club. His dark almost black eyes scanned the bar, noting only one man sitting towards the end. He looked already tipsy, leaving the area clear. Jack carefully stepped past tables of folks wining and dining before he approached the bar.

Standing over the bar was a tall lanky man, crisp black hair, small glasses, and pointed features. One could describe him looking like a bird even, most of the workers at the iceberg lounge did, Jack thought so at least. Turns out they didn’t enjoy a good bird pun either, trust him, he’s tried.

He was polishing a few glasses, gaze on the cup as Jack sat down on the stool in front of the man. “How can I help you sir?” The bar tended asked in a nasally voice, gaze drifting up from the glass and to the man sitting in front of him.

Jack took a moment to clear his aching throat, gripping the bag tighter to his chest. “I-I need to see.. The Penguin.” He spoke in a murmur, “A-and a shot of whiskey.” The clown added, hoping some alcohol will calm his nerves.

The man nodded, marginally calmer than the clown. Carefully, he reached underneath the bar, hand pressing a small button. He waited a minute before letting go and returned to maintaining his stoic behavior. A moment later, he reached towards his ear, nodding for a moment before he glanced at Jack. “The Penguin will meet with you in a minute. Back office.” He spoke monotonously as he picked a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar. He poured the alcohol and gave the glass to the clown.

The clown nodded, gulping down the alcohol. It buzzed past his taste buds, burning as it went down his sore throat. Perhaps alcohol wasn’t the best option but Jack didn’t care much at the moment.As Jack opened his bag to hand the bartender a few crumpled bills, the man shook his head. “Cobblepot said it’s on the house.” he muttered, refusing the cash.

It should have come as a relief but it only left Jack even more on edge. If he was walking a tight rope over a tank of sharks when he first walked in here, it just rose to a tank of sharks and as he walked people attempted to shoot him down with flaming arrows. Jack took a deep breath, standing from the bar.

He made his way towards the hall, trying to calm his nerves as he stepped towards the double doors to the office. After taking one last breath, Jack pushed open the doors to Oswald Cobblepot's office. Sitting at the desk in front of him was the big man himself, smirking as he watched the timid clown standing before him.

Oswald was a lean man, thick black brown hair, dark almost black eyes, and a growing stubble. Along his cheek and above his eyebrows were two small scars, Jack always assumed they were from squabbles of the past. Oswald didn’t enjoy getting his hands dirty but he could swing a punch or two. Besides his general appearance, he was suited in a basic black and white suit. Tucked in the pocket was a dark black pocket square, overall, he had a dapper appearance. A part of him was a little jealous of Cobblepot’s money and lifestyle, Jack only owned one suit himself and it was practically falling apart at the seams..

The rich man set down a glass of thick red wine, gesturing to a chair in front of him to sit. Standing beside him were two large burly men, dressed in black and white henchmen type uniforms. Overall, it gave off a “I am a villain and you should be afraid of what I can do” type of vibe. Not the homicidal maniac type of scary, more of the.. “I could make you disappear and no one would ask questions about it” kind of scary.

“Ah, Jack, what brings ya here?” Oswald spoke with a thick British accent. If he had an odder name, he could be a spy movie villain. Jack thought so at least. “Don’t suppose ya got my money?”

Suddenly, he felt his throat close up and he was left standing there like a statue. The whole time he clutched the dark black book bag close to his chest, as if it was his only defense. For a moment, Jack had to think before he stepped close and sat down in one of the chairs. The man in front of him was patient as Jack gathered his words. “I-I have the last payment.” he spit out, the words almost impossible to form.

Oswald seemed a bit surprised, leaving him to sit up in his chair. “Come on chap, let’s see it.” He snapped his fingers, growing antsy for this so called last payment. How did this low life come up with the rest of the money.

Hesitantly, Jack unzipped the bag and fished for a zip lock bag of cash. There were a few stacks of bound bills, along with crumpled dollars and other trinkets in the baggie. “I-I’m sure it’s the last of my payments O-Oswald, I can’t be your clown anymore-”

“Op, Op, Op,” The British man snatched the bag, narrowing his eyes as he looked over the contents. “Jack…” For a millisecond, Jack hoped he would be leaving here with his legs intact, his hopes died when the man narrowed his eyes. “Do you take me for some bloody joke?” Cobblepot hissed, his glare turning towards the man in front of him.

Jack’s whole body tensed, fear rippling through him. “I-I-no, that’s not what I-”

“Because this looks like a bloody fucking joke!” Oswald stood up abruptly, “Ya came all the way here to bring me a baggie of trinkets, and ya expect me to just say ‘yeah, this will do! This repays your giant debt to me’!” His voice raised as anger corsed through the rich man.

“Please. O-Oswald, calm down, it’s all there!” The scared man rambled, standing up from his chair. He gripped his dark bag, hands shaking. His voice was cracking out of fear, whole body tense. “I-I can’t b-be the clown anymore! I can’t s-stay in this cursed town anymore!”

The rich man smirked back at the shaking man, glancing at the two large men standing behind him. “Oh, ya should’ve said that you're leaving Jack. Come on boys, let’s give him a first class ride out of Gotham.” He snapped his fingers and the men started to approach the shaking green haired man.

Realizing this could be the death of him, Jack’s shaking hands opened the sack once more and pulled out a small handgun. He was trembling as he held onto it, pointing towards the Brit in front of him. There was no way in hell he would have the guts to shoot but holding a loaded weapon gave him some hint of hope. “Don’t move”

Oswald held stone still but didn’t seem intimidated. “You won’t shoot me Jack. You’ve never killed anyone before.” he smirked slightly. “And say ya do pull the bloody trigger, what next? You won’t escape this club without getting caught by my men, the police, or maybe even the Bat of all people..” He was right, every bit of his words were right. “Let’s even say you’re able to escape, what then? You won’t have a life left. You’ll live knowing that ya are a murderer, could you sleep at night knowing that?”

Jack said nothing, his shaking hands gripping the trigger.

“Say, if you’re caught, would they toss you in Arkham actually? You’ve had some outbursts in the past huh? Enough to get doctors to give you some strong meds-”

“Shut the hell up!” Jack screamed back, finger itching to pull the trigger. He could hear that little voice begging for him to see what would happen if he just shot the damn abusive, lying, manipulative bastard but he couldn’t.. Couldn’t hurt someone else, no matter how bad Cobblepot was.

Before Jack could process his move, he felt something hit the back of his head hard and he hit the floor like a sack of bricks.

 

When he was gaining consciousness, his eyes flickered open to nothing but darkness. He could feel something over his head, it didn’t take long for him to access that he had a bag over his head and his hands were bound. He was on his side, closed space.. “ _ It’s got to be the trunk of a car _ .” he thought to himself, sighing. He hated to say it, but this wasn’t his first time he woke up bound and thrown in the trunk of a car.

He couldn’t gather where he was or where they were going, he’s been out for a while and there was no way to gauge where they were taking him now. As the car started, his heart started to race, did they just take him out to the woods to shoot him point blank? No, that wasn’t Cobblepot’s style, he would most likely make Jack suffer before his heart stopped. They could never give him the honor of it being quick.

When the trunk popped open, he could hear the sound of one of the goons. “Ey, boss, you want us to carry him inside?” They called in a deep voice.

“Yes you big oof. Hurry, I don’t enjoy being here longer than I must. This place smells like arse.” Oswald hissed back. His voice was easy to detect among the two idiotic henchmen, Jack knew it well.

He tried not to make a sound as one of the brutes picked him up and hoisted him over his shoulder. Jack tried to gauge the situation, heart racing as he took in the smells of the area. It reeked, smells of trash and the faint smell of cleaning supplies or at least the chemicals. There was almost no sounds around them besides insects and animals howling. He figured the sun must have set by now, it was night.

As the sound of doors closing rang behind him hit his hears, he tensed fully. The smells of chemicals were stronger, much much stronger. Their footsteps sounded like they were walking over something metal, it rang in his ears. “Christ, I hate ace chemicals..” One of the goons muttered, letting panic race through the heart of Jack. Shortly after he heard this information, he started to squirm and try to wiggle out of the henchmen’s arms.

“Ay, sleeping beauty is awake!” The Brit rang out, cackling laughter following afterwards.”Pull off the hood boys, I want him to see a bit of our clown before we cut him loose.” he murmured.

Jack hissed as he was pushed to his knees, groaning as one of the guards tugged off the dark red hood. He blinked, dark eyes adjusting to the sudden light. They must have pulled his ponytail out, because his hair fell to his shoulders in a messy fashion. His makeup was smudged all over his face from the constant moving around in the warm car and this chemical plant. It felt like it was steaming in here. It could be, who knew that were in those chemicals?

“Good mornin’ chap!” Penguin called, kneeling down in front of the man in front of him. He reached out, gripping Jack’s jaw and tilting his head upwards to keep Jack’s dark eyes focused on his own. “You already know where we are huh? Good ol’ ace chemical plant. I like to take some of my old ties here!”

Jack was shaking, staring up at the man holding his jaw. “O-Oswald please calm down! I didn’t mean t-to upset you! I can still get you your money!” he tried to reason with Cobblepot, pure fear in his eyes as the other let go of his jaw.

He narrowed his eyes, “Spineless blokes like you make me sick, ya know that Napier?” Cobblepot clapped his hands together, picking up the red bag from before. “Have a nice trip kiddo,” Oswald let out a laugh as he shoved the bag back on Jack’s head.

The smaller man was trembling as he was pulled to his feet. He was going to die-

“Boss! It’s the Bat!” One of the men screamed, looking up with wide eyes. As he spoke, the window shattered and the familiar shadow of the town’s caped crusader loomed over the thugs.

“Oh bloody hell-” Oswald growled under his breath, pulling a silver pistol out of his suit jacket. “Keep the Bat distracted, I’ll dump this little problem” He barked an order at the henchmen, grabbing Jack’s arm. “Come on-” he muttered, starting to pull Jack along, turning to shoot a few rounds at the hero.

Jack was lost, unable to think through the panic and confusion, did Batman really come just to save him? Why would he save someone like Jack? “Who knew the fuckin’ bat would come out here to save your soggy ass, of all nights, he comes tonight!” Oswald shouted, starting to ramble as he watched Batman swing punches at the goons.

It didn’t take too long before one of the men was knocked out with a few punches and the other was taken out with a few batarangs. To the Bat, it was a routine Tuesday night to take out a few goons and then the main baddy. Saving a hostage was simply apart of it from time to time, it came with being a vigilante. 

“Cobblepot!” He shouted to the other man, tossing one of the goons aside onto the ground. His tone of voice was bold, brooding, and was known to strike fear into the hearts of many criminals. The Dark Knight narrowed his eyes and stepped closer towards the man standing beside the vats of bright green acid below them. “Let him go, now!”

Oswald let out a chilling laugh, his gun pointing towards Jack’s temple. “Well, if you insist,” He pulled his pistol away, a smirk spreading across his face as he pushed the bound man against the railing. Without any hesitation, he used his strength to push the clown over the railing.

Everything felt slow motion as Jack toppled backwards from the railing, hitting the burning acid back first. It burned, felt like fire coursing through his veins. As he sank into the chemicals, he was able to yank his wrists out of the loosened ropes. It wasn’t soon enough though, his vision was starting to blur, everything was messy.

When his eyes flickered open again and his vision adjusted, he was laying outside. The rain had started pouring hard outside but everything was blurring together, his ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton. The dark haired man slowly crawled towards a small puddle gathering on the mud. He let out a whimper, tugging the bag off his head, eyes widening at what stared in front of him.

His messy locks of hair were stained a thick green that shined through, no hints of his old color showing through, his once dark black eyes were a now acidic green color, and his makeup was washed away. Instead, in it’s place, his skin was a bright paper white.

The longer Jack stared, the more laughter started to bubble up. His mind felt scrambled, like a puzzle that’s gone through a blender. Before he realized it, the laughter grew louder and louder. It ate at his mind, leaving him a mess. There was so many questions eating at his mind, questions he didn’t have answers to.

_ What was his name again? _

_ Why was he here? _

_ Where was he? _

_ Who even was he? _

_ How did he end up here? _

_ And most importantly, what was so funny?! _

He reached out, pale white pointer finger tracing over the icey cold water. He met eyes with the reflection, his lips curling up into a smirk as a thought came to mind.. A joke even. “I guess the Jokes on you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading the first chapter of my fanfic! My apologies if this is bad or out of character, this is my first attempt at a DC fanfic and especially a batjokes one. This Joker is supposed to be more like the comic books Joker but I take most of my influence from the comics, Arkham games, and a few movies. So mine is sort of a mix, and I plan to change some the origin stories a little (sort of tweak them a bit). Basically, Jack had a lousy life and soon he fell into the chemicals and BAM-Joker! So yeah. That's all I got.


	2. He's Playing The Joker Card

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now branding himself as the Joker, he starts his rain of crime on Gotham by setting a bank to flames. When news spreads of the clown all over Gotham, he now has to decide what to do next. How will he take Gotham?

He’d probably spent at least an hour stumbling down the streets as his giggles died down. Sleep.. He needed somewhere to rest for the night. The clown instinctively made his way towards an apartment building, although he couldn’t recall why he would be going there.. When he made it towards the tall brick building, he fished through his pockets for a key but found nothing. The green haired man shrugged it off and made his way towards a window towards the ground floor.

He scanned the ground, eyeing a large rock in the grass. As he picked it up, he threw it at the window. The flying rock smashed through the window, leaving a large enough hole to get your hand through. Without thought, he slipped his hand through the hole and unlocked the window. Once it was unlocked, he pulled his hand back with only a minor scratch. The man called it a success and opened the window, finding no one was home.

It could work for now.

 

About a week passed and still now one came to claim the apartment, so the man assumed it was his now. He wouldn’t need to crash there much longer anyways, not after tonight. He stepped into the kitchen and opened the drawer, fishing out a small knife. It didn’t matter how big it was, it was the sharpness of the blade that mattered. Cutting into something with a dull knife would make it ache more, he knew that. Before stepping into the bathroom, he plucked a bottle of amber colored liquor from the counter.

The clown took a deep breath as he placed the blade onto the sink’s counter. For a few moments, his hands had fiddled with the blade and he gazed down at the reflection in the sharp steel. Ugly, so unbelievably ugly… He stuck his tongue out in disgust, setting the bottle onto the counter as well. That was his after treatment, his medication if you will.

Without anymore thoughts nagging his brain to stop, he picked up the blade and in the mirror to inspect the canvas of his face. The blade was his brush and his skin was the blank paper, waiting to be fixed.. His thoughts started to numb as he pushed the blade into his mouth and turned over the sharp side to face the skin of his cheek. He started to press it into the skin, carving into the skin. His hand naturally begun to shake as he further carved in, the warm taste of copper hitting his tongue. It was beginning to sting but he pushed through the pain and finished the right side.

Then he repeated with the left, trying to match the other side as best as possible with his shaking hand. 

Once his work was done, he stared at the final product in the mirror. Staring back at him was his handiwork. Starting from each side of his lips, two jagged bleeding cuts extended a smile across his face. The crimson blood dripped down his face on the sink but the man only took his index finger, gathering some of the blood on his finger before he painted a small smile on the mirror.

The longer he stared, the more his grin extended over his face. Small chuckles built into soft giggles and those snowballed into loud bone chilling laughter. The green haired man couldn’t recall why it was so amusing but he could not stop smiling. There was something lurking inside him that was coming out more and more.. And he liked it. It made him happy to stare at those scars.

Beautiful, he was beautiful now.

 

It took a little over a year for him to properly form an identity. The pale man chose to take on the name “Joker”. He already had the striking appearance of a clown and it just seemed to click. He was the oddball card in the deck of hearts, clubs, diamonds, and spades.

When it came to a past or a back story even, he was at a loss. It was like a multiple choice test the clown was yet to pass. Sometimes Joker was a lab experiment that spent years locked away from the world, sometimes he was just a family man who lost everything dear to him, sometimes he was always a crook. There was only one detail that stuck, it only took one bad day to create the Joker.

Throughout his year, Joker tried to find his footing in the criminal underbelly of Gotham. It seemed like a good place to start with some low life gang. It wasn’t bad getting started but there was one thing he found out about himself as he continued down this path. He wasn’t a fan of being bossed around by fat cat criminals that couldn't take a fucking joke.

You see, to be ahead in this world, the clown learned that you have to be ahead of the curb persay. Bland henchmen without brains are easily forgotten and screwed over, left to die for being too naive.

People have too many rules and morals, it’s easier to let that stuff go. Joker didn’t find it too hard to do these days. Admittedly, his personality seemed all over the place these days. It was like a rollercoaster and he wasn’t getting off anytime soon.

It only took a month for Joker to overtake a small operation. He entered as “just a henchmen” and finished on the top of the food chain as their boss. Most of it consisted of lying through his teeth, cheating to get promotions, pinning people against each other. When the time came, his dear old boss was met with a bad case of a bullet to the skull. That left the new guy now on top.

Now being the boss was great, but the clown craved more than just being the boss. He wanted more than cash, just committing petty crimes. It was all so boring. There was only one man on his mind these days, the one from the news. The man who was “saving” Gotham city. It was all so perplexing to the green haired man.

He wanted him. He wanted the Batman.

 

The night Bruce watched the hostage tumble into those chemicals, he laid awake at night just staring at the ceiling. Guilt ate at him as he laid awake, everything leftover on his mind. For the first time since he donned the cape, the Batman failed someone.

Over the year, Bruce attempted to pinpoint who the hostage had been, he had to do his family and friends right. He could at least to help them as Bruce Wayne, he would definitely have the money to do so. Unfortunately, there was no leads on the man. He could narrow down a list of people missing in that time frame but the list was too long, due to the high crime rate in Gotham, people could “go missing” all the time.

After the loss, he started to notice more life missing from Gotham. They seemed less lively, in fact, he hadn’t seen the witty pick pocket since their first meeting. Naturally, Bruce blamed himself for scaring the cute street performer off. A part of the billionaire hoped that he had left and cleaned up his act.

While the newly created Joker was moving up in his criminal career, Bruce was perfecting his craft as the Bat. He worked faster, found time to work on more gadgets, tried even harder to lower the crime rate. Lately, his attention has drifted to the crime bosses of Gotham. There was a disturbance in the crime pool and he didn’t like it. His newest lead was an interesting one.

As of a few months ago, the GCPD begun to work with the Batman under the orders of commissioner Gordon. The police commissioner seemed to realize that the vigilante was helping more than he was hurting. Today, Gordon contacted Bruce over a larger hit that happened in the past hour. Bruce was surprised he hadn’t heard of it yet, leaving him feeling idiotic for not being there to stop it in the first place but Gordon assured him that it was an out of the blue crime.

One of the banks in Gotham went up in flames, which left Bruce scolding himself for not being there to stop it or help anyone injured in the mess. Among the mess, they’ve been able to recover little security camera footage and a steel case with a note. There were a few other items but they didn’t have anything to do with the case at hand. 

Bruce arrived in his normal sneaky slipping through the window fashion. He was welcomed by Gordon as he stepped into the office. The commissioner was startled at first but guided the caped crusader towards their evidence. “Batman, we’re glad you could come down here so soon.”

Gordon was an older man, at least in his forties. His light brown locks were starting to go silver and he had a full grown mustache, and a pair of simple black glasses. He’s been in the force for a while but started as the commissioner a year ago. He was one of the first officers to accept the Batman’s help in the first place.

“What have you found Gordon?” He asked, following the other.

The older man took Batman to the case first off. Upon first glance, it was a simple steel briefcase upon first glance. Tied to the case was a laminated paper with scribbly purple pen written on it. The writing said: “OPEN ME”

“This was recovered from the bank, we’ve attempted to search for prints but we haven’t found anything..” Gordon sighed, “Well, no, actually, the case has a lock. We haven’t been able to force the case open and we haven’t attempted to find a code. It needs a four digit code.”

Bruce nodded in response, glancing over the lock. This had to be a planned crime, the only question was: what was left on this case?

Gordon next waved Bruce over to a monitor, ignoring one of the cops who scoffed at the sight of Batman. The commissioner may believe in the Dark Knight but that didn’t mean that everyone wanted to work with him. 

“We did recover a few hours of security footage, I wanted to wait till you arrived to review it.” He spoke up, flicking the footage onto the screen.

The footage was a view of the area by the entrance of the bank, giving you a small view into the bank. It wasn’t too crowded but there was quite a bit of business going on that day-which only made Bruce feel worse about what happened.

Nothing caught his interest, that was until a man in a dark purplish overcoat stepped into the bank and sat down on the bench facing the camera. He wore a matching hat and a thick scarf that covered his mouth. Along with that, his eyes were covered with a pair of dark sunglasses. The man looked suspicious as hell.

It immediately rang bells to Bruce.

As they watched, the man sat there for about thirty minutes, spending ten of those minutes reading the day’s paper. After the time was up, he stood up, leaving the case and on his way out bumped into a blonde woman also leaving the bank. Almost minutes after they’ve left, the accident occurred.

“Rewind the footage.” Bruce muttered, using the second time to scan everything this man was doing. He counted everything he did, attention perked as the man picked up the newspaper. It was a long shot but-

The Dark Knight stepped over to the case, entering his guess at the code into the lock and he was greeted with a click of the case unlocking. Just to be careful, he stepped aside and mentally counted to ten. Once he deemed it safe, he stepped back to the silver case, popping it open.

He wasn’t sure what he was expecting but there was two items staring up at him from the inside of the briefcase.

A single Joker playing card with a note beside it written in the same scribbly purple pen.

“YOUR MOVE”

 

News of “The Joker” spread like wildfire throughout Gotham. Gordon wanted to keep the case underwraps but one rumor started and then it morphed into gossip shows claiming the Joker started the fire, that he planned the whole hit. With the playing card as their only evidence, the nickname Joker was a given.

People were a mix of emotions, people were scared of what his next hit would be, people were infuriated with the police for allowing mad men like this to roam their streets, some citizens even claimed Joker was sending a message to the banks and to the Batman himself! It baffled Bruce, all this stemmed from a simple fire.

Joker never expected all this reaction from a simple hit, it left him a little giddy when one of his lackeys burst into the room with a large grin and newspaper that read: “THE JOKER STILL AT LARGE”

The clown let out a proud chuckle, starting to lean back in the comfortable leather chair and propped his feet up on the desk. Courtesy of the previous crime boss of this gang, Joker got his own little office. Nice desk, cozy chair, but the decor was hideous.. Now that he thought of that, Joker should redecorate the place. It could use some new colors, maybe some streamers-eh, that wasn’t important.

What was important, was his next hit. It had to be big! Loud! Show them Joker means business!.. 

That left him back to step one, if a little fire can send Gotham in a panic, what was his next move?

His answer was a little charity event they held every year. Some of Gotham’s richest families will be attending. It all goes to some generic “save the children” fund, blah blah blah. It makes Joker sick to his stomach.. Although there were two entertaining aspects to this event.

One, there will be plenty of people who can give their funds to a new charity known as Joker’s criminal future. Two, it will be televised and that meant Joker could make his first official debu! He’s always been one to love the limelight!

“That’s it!” Joker spoke up, jumping up from his desk and catching the attention of the two guards in the room.

One of them opened their mouth to question him. “What boss-”

Before the other could finish his words, Joker linked his arms over the two buff men’s shoulders. “Get ready for our next hit boys, this year’s donation fest.” he spoke up, a smirk spreading on his lipstick stained lips. “Not only will we be robbing some of the richest Gothamites, I’m about to make my first public appearance!” He proclaimed, looking back at the two goons.

They both looked speechless, perhaps a bit frightened of their new boss.

The clown wasn’t like any of the past men they’ve worked for. When he took over, one of the old bosses right hand men refused to work for him. Joker stepped up, looking up at the six foot buff man who was willing to kick his ass. With no hesitation, he flicked a switchblade out from his sleeve and cut thick into the man’s throat.

Everyone had watched with mixed emotions as the man dropped to his knees, chocking on his own plasma. As the man bleed out onto the floor, Joker spread his arms out, smirking at the goons around him as he uttered out his next words, “Anyone else got a complaint?”

No one had said anything.

From then on, Joker had been their boss.

Joker chuckled, moving back and slapping one of the large men’s back right smack dab center with a loud slap. He was the most enthusiastic one among the three of them and certainly the loudest one. “Now get a move on lamb chops, I’ve got to get ready for my close up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thank you for reading! Comments, etc, are appreciated!
> 
> Anyways, sorry this took a while. I wasn't completely sure where I wanted it to go. I sort of wanted a time skip to allow Jack to transition into the Joker. so yeah, his first hit was just to get his name out there (joker doesn't really know about who batman is yet because he's sorta unheard of)
> 
> but yeah, sorry about the jeff the killer esc moment Joker had there.. and sorry this took so long! School has been a nightmare and my family has had a lot of plans going on (eating up a lot of my writing time :P)
> 
> on the bright side tho, i finally finished some concept sketches for joker and harley for the fic! i'm really excited about them!!


	3. Laughter and Handcuffs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The clown prince of crime continues with his plan and he finally comes face to face with the Batman.

Joker wasn’t a man to make plans but he did put together a basic outline of what they were doing in his scrambled mind. The night, he knew Gordon would be surveying the event. He was nervous about someone attempting to rob the place, running in with guys would be exciting but complete suicide. The whole raid would be ruined within minutes and he’d be spending his night in a cold jail cell.

He looked over his group of goons before he picked out a normal looking one. They waited in the dark, watching as Gordon set up cars around the building, barking into his radio for his guys to keep watch on all the entrances and exits for anything suspicious. As the charity event went into full swing, he started making moves.

The clown sent in two guys to pick off a cop when he was least expecting it. Once they had nicely changed into the uniforms, the two goons slipped calmly into the crowd. Using their own walkie talkies, the two men kept Joker constantly in the loop as to who was arriving. He was intrigued to hear bachelor Bruce Wayne came down sick this year, so instead he made a large donation to the event in form of a cheesy giant check. Joker wasn’t sure why, but Bruce was interesting to him..

He knew there must be a man underneath that perfect mask, he’d love to see who that man was.

One by one, they slipped more goons inside. They overtook waiters and security guards, keeping their weapons concealed from public eyes. Now Joker would love to see the crowd panic and run around like chickens with their heads cut off, but not until he could make his big debut as the Joker everyone knew and feared. When he was given the clear that everyone was in place and the alarms were handled, the green haired man slipped on his familiar purple disguise from his last attack and used his last goon to slip inside through the back.

Joker made his way towards the center of the floor in the event, ignoring the judging stares towards his pale face and face bundled up in a large scarf. He wasn’t as beautiful to the public, it was a shame.

Now standing in the center of the room, he reached into his coat and pulled a pistol from the inside. Without any thought, he fired two shots into the air. Instantly, people were screaming and in a panic. The goons waited at the doors, dawning colorful masks themed after carnival clowns and each pulling out large rifles. They stopped the terrified people making their way towards the doors, boxing the blind panic of people inside the building.

“Alright ladies and gents, where are those lovely reporters? I would hate for the spotlight to not be on me!” Joker called into the crowd, scanning through the people to find the poor reporter and their camera man. When no one spoke up, he sighed and shot a few more times into the air. “Come on out before I make you show your face!”

Just as he was about to start drawing out the camera, a shaking blonde woman raised her hand. “I’m covering this event.” She spoke boldly but she was shaking in her boots. Beside her stood a large greasy looking camera man, holding a large camera up.

“Oh!” He stepped away from his spot in the center of the room, waving towards the camera. “You live doll?” he asked, getting a little nod in return from the scared reporter. Her eyes widened as he pulled back his scarf to reveal his scarred lips and took off the dark lavender hat he’d used to cover his hair. He used a few fingers to comb back his leaf green locks with a small chuckle.

Joker grinned, taking her hand, pressing a gentle kiss to her knuckles.

Vicki remained stone still, eyes wide as she watched Joker wave towards the camera. “Good evening Gotham and everyone tuning in! If you haven’t been keeping up with the news, then I’ll fill you in!” He let out a cackling laugh, “I, am the Joker!” He exclaimed, holding his arms out.

“Now ladies and gentlemen, I have some boys coming around with cute little bags for you to put all your valuables in. Necklaces, rings, money, anything worthwhile please!” He shouted, glaring back at the camera man attempting to turn away. “Hey, hey! Keep that on me otherwise I’ll have someone knock sense into ya!” He hissed.

People trembled as large goons paced from person to person, forcing women to take out earrings, men to pull off watches, anything they could ditch for profits. “Thank you all for donating to my cause! With your help, we can truly help Gotham. I’ll leave them smiling till it hurts!” He chuckled, picking a necklace off a woman’s neck. Then he pat the camera man’s shoulder with a laugh. “But as I said, keep the spotlight on me otherwise people will die.”

Most of the rich gothamites didn’t want to argue with a man wearing clown makeup and waving around a gun. Perhaps if batchelor Bruce Wayne had attended the event, perhaps he would have been able to help these poor scared people. The thought made Joker chuckle even..

While he made his rounds, cracking jokes and proceeding to scare the people around him, the henchmen attempted to crack open the safe. “Ey, I thought you said that you could crack open safes!” One of the buff men complained to the other goon pressing his ear against the large bank safe.

“I do! It’s been a while!” The other hissed back, grunting when the safe showed no intent of opening up for him. “I thought it would come back to me..” he mumbled, kicking the metal safe with a frown.

“Boss, Blake isn’t having any luck with the safe!” The first goon shouted towards Joker.

The clown rolled his eyes, shooting a glare back at the two guards.

Did Joker have to everything himself!? He successfully took over their operation in a few months and these low lives couldn’t remember how to crack a safe… Either way, he was running out of time. “Just blow it open!” he shouted back. He didn’t have time to waste here. They had to get out of here before the police can jam their way inside here.

The two not so bright henchmen started setting up a few explosives right beside the opening of the safe. For a moment, Joker’s attention was on his lackeys and one of the guests slowly stepped over. They had to stop this clown from robbing the poor people. The people who noticed remained dead silent, scared of speaking up and most of them terrified of what would happen to them if they did speak up. As he inched closer, he reached towards Joker’s hand in an effort to restrain him.

Perhaps it was bad luck or it was just the wrong timing since the clown swung around to see this man trying to pickpocket him. He stood there, bright eyes wide in shock as pure fear bubbled up inside him. Joker simply shook his head, hands slipping into the pocket of his dark lavender trench coat. As he did, he made  _ tsk _ sounds with the click of his tongue. “If you’re going to stop me,” He flicked out a sharp switchblade. One he’s used many times before to show people who’s the boss. “You’ll have to be a bit more sharp than that” he laughed at his lousy joke, flicking the blade deep into the man’s chest.

“Oof-” The brunette choked back a whimper, dropping to his knees. He was shaking as the clown pulled out the knife and plunged it back into his shoulder. “W-wh-what are you?” he coughed out, pressing onto his chest.

The laughing man kneeled down and smirked, gripping the man’s hair between his gloved hands. “What am I?” A smirk graced his lips, “I’m your worst nightmare, the man who laughs, I’m the Joker.” With that, he let go of the man’s locks, letting him fall over and bleed out onto the floor.

After his display, there was a large explosion behind him as the safe was blown open. It hung open on his hinges, the vault now open. “Looks like you idiots can do something right!” he glanced down at the silver watch around his wrist, they were just on time. The green haired man looked back at the camera, letting a laugh. “Thank you Gotham and Gothamites for watching, unfortunately we have to end our programming for tonight!” He pulled a gas mask from his jacket and slipped it over his face with a laugh. “At least out live action studio can end tonight with a smile!”

Outside, Gordon and his men were banging on the doors, finally forcing open one of the doors. As if he knew this would happen, several timed gas tanks started releasing a sickly green gas into the room. The crowd must have been so thrilled with this, they started laughing. They were laughing quite hard, so hard they couldn’t breathe even.

Upon seeing the chaos, Gordon was back to barking at his men to pull back, pull back from the situation. It was too late for quite a few policemen and most of the crowd. People were already falling over, most likely dead from suffocation.

Just a little mixture of chemicals Joker wiped up in his free time. As he stepped over, the two guys from earlier were chatting. “Oh, I get why the boss said bring gas masks.” one of them mumbled, starting to fill their sacks with cash. As much as they could carry, they’ll need it.. Well, that’s what Joker said.

“Say boss, what are these big plans ya got?” He asked, peering up at Joker.

“I’m thinking of moving offices, somewhere more fun!” Joker let out a laugh, “and besides, uniforms won’t pay for themselves.. Perhaps you idiots get a share as well.” As if he was about to give these idiots more than a tiny scrap of their win. “And we’ll need money for or next-”

He was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering behind him. There, gliding in like a bat was.. Was.. Joker wasn’t sure what he was, but for the moment, he was captivated by the sight of this figure. His cold blue eyes, flowing cape, dark exterior. “Wha-” He couldn’t finish that thought as the other man’s fist met his cheek.

Everything felt like slow motion as he fumbled to his feet. Those loyal buffoons shot at the bat but handing a gun to a toddler doesn’t make them any more dangerous. Most of the masked guards were taken down with a few punches, but Joker was mesmerized by the vigilante. The way he moved swiftly between his punches was like a dance. A dance that the clown wanted to be apart of.

When he could snap put off his daze, he picked up his heavy feet and rushed towards the stairs. Police would be waiting outside, he would rather not end this fight with the Dark Knight just yet. He pushed into a stairwell, the sounds of laughter seizing and only the sounds of his men being captured ringing in his ears. He wasn’t one to flee but he needed air, he needed a window to think for a moment, even a few more seconds. He fumbled up the stairs and out onto the roof, finding his sharp blade he used earlier.

As he thought, he was only graced a few seconds before the door to the roof swung open and he was standing there. Just as before, he found his acidic green eyes staring at into the other’s dark baby blue’s. His whole body felt stiff, what was wrong with him? Who was this man and why hadn’t the clown heard of him?

His name was on the tip of his tongue but he couldn’t recall it.. It was driving him batty.

Punches were swung back and forth from the Bat while Joker only swung at him with the blade. He couldn’t think properly, allowing Bruce to get in plenty of hits. As it grew, Joker continued to step back further and further on the rooftop. He was shouting, the Bat was shouting at him. Something about murder, Joker couldn’t process.

He took another large step back, eyes widening at the lack of ground under his foot. Before he could fall backwards too far, he felt the other’s hand grip onto his wrist and yank him forward. Why the hell would he have saved him? “What.. What are you?” Joker spit out, staring wide eyed at the man in front of him.

“I am the Batman.” Bruce growled back, about to ask him the same exact question until his fingers grazed a silver watch resting on Joker’s wrist. His gaze turned to the silver watch and he ran his thumb over the engraving. This was his watch… Well, Bruce Wayne’s watch but it was the one that he gave to Jack.

“How the hell did you get this watch?” He suddenly growled.

Joker scoffed, looking back at Bruce with a glare. “What, you think I stole this too? I’ve always had this-”

Bruce gripped Joker’s jaw, his other hand forcing him into cuffs. Who the hell was this man? Where did he come from? Why did he look so familiar but so different at the same time? Who was this mystery man?

The questions raced through his head as he escorted Joker outside the event. Bruce was too late to save the dead guests and cops but he was lucky enough to have not attended the event.. Otherwise he might have ended up like these people. It made the Dark Knight sick to his stomach, knowing this man was capable of killing all those people. Joker showed no regret for his actions, in fact most criminals were sobbing or begging for Bruce not to hurt them.. Joker had nothing but a large haunting smile.

On the way outside, Bruce had taken the liberty to snatch the clowns knife and any other weapons he may have had on him. He wasn’t looking to put any more lives at risk tonight.. Joker only told him to hold onto the knife for him, he’d be back for it later. It left a cold nervous feeling in Bruce’s mind.

From the cop cars, injured henchmen cheered or shouted at Joker with things such as, “Way to go boss,” or “the Bat can’t contain Joker!” A few of them even had looks of fear, not for what the police would do to them but what Joker could do to them…

“I’ll take him.” Gordon spoke up, pulling Bruce away from his thoughts. He didn’t want to disagree but he nodded, pushing the purple suited man forward harshly.

“Oh! Bat not in the mood to play?” The clown hummed, scoffing once more as one of the surviving policeman shoved Joker into the car. The officer nor did the commissioner enjoy seeing several innocent cops along with civilians lose their lives today.

Joker started to ramble, shouting at Batman as the window was rolled up and Gordon sighed. “Guy looks like he rolled out of the damn looney bin..” he mumbled, glancing back at the clown.

Bruce only nodded, “Be careful Gordon.” he spoke in his deep voice, a serious look in his eyes. “We’ve already seen too many lives lost today.. I don’t want to see anymore.”

As Bruce spoke, rolling laughter came from the green haired man in the backseat. “M-more? I haven’t started!” He jerked forward, body rippling in loud laughter. Who did these people think they were? They didn’t know what Joker was or what he could really do! Tonight was just an introduction!

Gordon sighed, starting to pull the driver’s side door open. “I’m just worried more freaks are going to start seeping out because of this guy..” He shook his head and climbed into the car, starting to drive off towards the station.

As police drove off, Bruce watched-conflicted on how he felt. There was just one question racking his brain. “ _ Who was the Joker? _ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your kind comments/reviews, kudos, and reads!! It's much appreciated!
> 
> Sorry for the delay!! My computer's hard drive broke (so i also lost a few weeks worth of art i had been saving up ;-; .... but i haven't been able to use a computer to type unless i borrow the family computer and get a chance to sit down and type. i will keep going with this fanfic, i promise!! (i need to finish a fanfic)
> 
> but uh, sorry for the "i am batman" parody joke btw.
> 
> AND in case you were wondering, Joker is sort of different than Jack and Joker never met Batman before. Now he has and he's hooked ;)
> 
> fun fact: when i wrote this chapter, I used two pieces of notebook paper and bullet pointed the main ideas of this chapter. Then I added drawings as reminders for what the chapter was about at the moment. I've been carrying it around as a reminder when I get the chance to type.


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